| 1860 | The end of the medieval city: the construction of the Eixample (Ildefons Cerdà) |
| 1868 | Spanish Liberal Revolution (La Gloriosa) |
| 1872 | Foundation of the Ateneu Barcelonès |
| 1873 | First Spanish Republic |
| 1875 | Monarchic Restoration (Restauración) |
| 1877 | Public debates on Darwinism at the Ateneu Barcelonès |
| 1880 | First Catalanist Conference |
| 1881 | Foundation of the Ateneu Obrer de Barcelona (Workers’ Athenaeum) |
| 1886 | Valentí Almirall, Lo catalanisme (federal, liberal Catalanism) |
| 1888 | Universal Exhibition at the Parc de la Ciutadella |
| International scientific conferences (medicine, spiritism) | |
| Founding Conference of Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), socialist | |
| 1892 | Josep Torres i Bages, La tradició catalana (Catholic, conservative Catalanism) |
| 1893 | Anarchist bombing at the Liceu Opera Theatre |
| New sewage system and hygienic programmes (Pedro García Faria) | |
| 1895 | First telephone wire Barcelona-Madrid |
| 1896 | First cinema at the Rambla |
| 1897 | Old adjacent towns (Sants, Gràcia, Les Corts, Sant Gervasi, Sant Martí, Sant Andreu) incorporated into Barcelona |
| 1898 | Spanish colonial crisis. Loss of Cuba and the Philippines |
| 1899 | First electric tramways |
| 1900 | Opening of the Parc Güell |
| Modernisme movement | |
| 1901 | Francesc Ferrer Guàrdia opens the Escuela Moderna |
| Funicular at the Tibidabo mountain | |
| Foundation of La Lliga Regionalista (conservative Catalanism) | |
| 1903 | First Congrés Universitari Català |
| 1904 | Opening of the Fabra Obsevatory at the Tibidabo mountain, Josep Comas Solà (director) |
| 1905 | First Electric railway to Sarrià |
| First Congrés d’Higiene de Catalunya | |
| 1906 | Noucentisme movement |
| Enric Prat de la Riba, La nacionalitat catalana | |
| Solidaritat Catalana as a Catalanist political movement | |
| 1907 | First automobile |
| Foundation of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans | |
| 1908 | Opening of the art nouveau Palau de la Música |
| 1909 | The Tragic Week – ‘La Setmana Tràgica’ (a violent social revolt) |
| International Conference on Esperanto | |
| 1910 | Founding Conference of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), anarchist |
| 1911 | Opening of Saturno Park |
| 1913 | First Conference of Doctors of Catalan language (Congrés de Metges en Llengua Catalana) |
| 1914 | Yellow fever plague |
| Mancomunitat de Catalunya as an autonomous provincial government | |
| 1915 | Public works at the Montjuïc mountain |
| 1916 | Francesc Carreras Candi, La ciutat de Barcelona |
| 1918 | The Spanish Flu |
| 1919 | Workers’ long strike at La Canadenca |
| 1920 | King Alfonso XIII’s visit to the city’s textile factories |
| 1921 | More than hundred deaths caused by social and political violence |
| 1923 | Visit of Albert Einstein |
| General Primo de Rivera’s coup d’état | |
| 1924 | Radio Barcelona begins to broadcast |
| Opening of the first underground line: Plaça Catalunya-Lesseps | |
| 1925 | Repression of Catalanist societies |
| 1926 | Death of Antoni Gaudí |
| Opening of Jorba stores | |
| 1927 | Inauguration of Plaça Catalunya |
| 1928 | Zeppelin flies around the city |
| 1929 | International Exhibition at the Montjuïc mountain |
| 1930 | Crisis of Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship |
| 1931 | End of the Monarchy: the Second Spanish Republic begins |
| Recovery of the Catalan Autonomous Government: Generalitat de Catalunya | |
| 1936 | General Franco’s coup d’état |
| Spanish Civil War begins | |
| Anarchist-communist revolution in Barcelona | |
| 1938 | George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia |
| Fascist bombing of Barcelona’s civil population | |
| 1939 | Franco’s victory, and massive Catalan exile, the end of the republican regime, and the beginning of a new dictatorship |